About

About me

Virginia Stuart-Taylor, aged 30

65 countries visited

From: Hampshire, UK

Currently living in: London, UK

School & Gap Year: I grew up on the south coast of England in the idyllic counties of Hampshire and West Sussex, and aside from holidays with family and school, I spent a whole 18 years there. Then, before I started university, I took a Gap Year and had an incredible 10 months abroad, backpacking around Cuba, China and South-East Asia and fitting in two ski seasons in Chile and Italy.

University: I returned to the UK to study Modern Languages (Spanish, Italian and Portuguese) at the University of Exeter and I had the fantastic, and hugely recommended, opportunity to do a Third Year Abroad. This took me to Córdoba in Spain for 6 months, and to Modena in Italy for 6 months.

Post-university Graduate Scheme: Having finished university, I then did a two-year graduate scheme at one of the largest tech companies in Europe, which allowed me to travel to the Czech Republic, Ireland, Spain, Germany and South Africa for work, and involved a 6-month placement working in the headquarters in Madrid.

Sabbatical: In August 2014 I then returned to London for just over a year, before beginning a 6-month sabbatical from work in November 2015 to travel around Europe and Sri Lanka, study in Germany and Russia, and volunteer in Nepal.

Graduate Scheme no.2: After a year of my Master’s I returned to London in October 2017 to start a second grad scheme, the Civil Service Fast Stream, working in internationally-focused roles in the UK government. Having finished that, I’ve stayed within the UK government, now working on negotiations with the EU.

50 Countries and Counting: I set myself the challenge of visiting 50 countries before my 30th birthday, which I happily achieved (aged 27) in August 2016 by moving to the Netherlands! Here’s a full map of all the 65 countries I’ve visited so far. Needless to say, I’ve caught the travel bug.

Good Deeds through Travel: The ability to travel is a beautiful gift, but it has also opened my eyes to the harsh realities of this world, to the many wrongs and injustices suffered by millions, which I can’t simply ignore and walk away. So I’ve become an Ambassador for two great organisations: the global children’s charity Plan UK and the global summit One Young World.

A Journey Across Borders is the tale of my 6-month journey across 26 borders in Europe in 2017, to discover how borders evolve, what they mean and how they impact people’s lives.

There are two main items I absolutely have to pick up on my travels, the first item being a work of art (a painting, a drawing, even the odd sculpture), and the second being a postcard. Covering the walls of all the various rooms I’ve lived in, in all of the various countries, a growing number of postcards have followed me around, always reminding me of past adventures. Hence the name of this blog.

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About The Well-Travelled Postcard

Welcome! I'm Virginia, a travel blogger and podcaster from the UK, a graduate of MA European Politics and BA European Languages, a serial expat, and travel is an utterly fundamental part of who I am. I hope to inspire you to get out and explore the world, through helping you find opportunities to travel, work, study and live abroad, and by sharing some of the amazing places I’ve encountered so far! Click here to find out more...

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Hello Virginia, First of all, great blog you have! Secend of all, let me introduce myself to you. My name is Roel Smulders from the Netherlands and just like many of us i’ve been caught by the travel bug. The last 9 years i’ve been lucky to visit more then 30 countries all over the world. Apparently Holland is just to small for me. Well, for you livin in London, doens’t mean that you shouldn’t visit Holland. Only our capital Amsterdam is world famous! As a matter a fact, i would like to invite you to Amsterdam so i can show you my beautiful country, eat some cheese, pick some flowers, and make a new postcard for you with a windmill. 🙂 Becide this we can share some amezing stories about traveling. 🙂 Just like you my the next countries on my list are Brazil and Argentina. 🙂

Well, take care and i hope to hear from you soon… Greetings from Holland!

Hey Virginia! First wanted to say that your blog is amazing and extremely inspiring, I only wish to go to all the places you have! What I was wondering is how do you get to do what you love and travel? Is your blog part of your job?

Hi Shelby, thank you! My blog and travelling is actually something I do in my spare time alongside working full-time in London. Over the last two years I’ve been luxky and had a few work trips abroad, and I moved to Madrid for work for half of 2014. But my job is actually nothing to do with my blog!

A postcard and languages fan?I already in love with yr blog cos I do as well.
Always good to stumble upon travel bloggers living in the same city n the fact u do speak Portuguese makes it even more special.
Boas viagens e quem sabe a gente se cruza pelas ruas de Londres.

very nice blog virginia.do u visit my country india.iam from rajasthan india.there are many places to visit.and many historical places and forts of kings.here you can make some good postcards….iam from rajasthan india and i lives in small town.

Hello! I was in Uppsala and Bilbao. I really enjoyed the course. Tips? Build relations with professors or advisors (recommendations are important). Start thinking about your thesis title. Don’t think the MA is a magic bullet for a better job—takes time for some. And have fun! There are some amazing people from all over the world on these courses.

Hi Virginia! My name is Mikhala, and I am wrapping up my first year in college in the U.S. I have been contemplating only Spanish in Korean for my undergraduate degree, but I don’t know if I should. It’s the only thing I am truly passionate about (learning languages and learning about cultures). I just came across your blog today, and I was wondering if you studied anything other than modern languages during your undergraduate years?

Hi Mikhala – so I know that the US education system is a bit different from the UK. In the UK we usually study one (or less commonly two) subjects for the whole degree. We don’t have majors/minors or other random subjects from different faculties, so our courses are very focussed from the very beginning. I did actually take an extra module in International Relations my 2nd, 3rd and 4th years alongside my languages, and I have another linguist friend who combined her two languages with Business/Accounting. Other relevant subjects that are logical to combine with languages are literature, history, sociology and politics – to understand the societies and people that use these languages. I hope this helps with your decision about what to study next year (and Korean must be so fascinating! Korean isn’t a common option in the UK so you’ll be skilled in a very rare & unique language – well done!)

You are goals! Thank you for inspiring me! I dream of travelling too. And I volunteered in Raleigh ICS as ICV for last two and a half months. I am going again this time as a Team Leader. I still have a lot to achieve. Wish me luck!